1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lens grip to be attached on a lens assembly, for example, of a shoulder type television camera or a video camera which is supported on the shoulder of a cameraman in outdoor shooting or in similar situations, so that the cameraman can operate the camera lenses with one or more fingers while holding the video camera through the lens grip.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the shoulder type video camera, which is composed of a camera body and a lens assembly, the lens grip which is attached to the lens assembly has not only the function of stabilizing the camera on the shoulder but also the function of operating the camera lens together with one or more fingers of the hand which holds the lens grip. For these purposes, the lens grip is usually adapted to be detachably fixed on a lens barrel by screws or other suitable fixation means, and provided with a housing which is formed in a grip-shape on the outer side and which is arranged to accommodate lens drive means for zooming and focusing lenses, along with an iris drive motor and potentiometers for detection of lens and iris positions.
These component parts are mounted in position within the housing as drive members, in association with operating members including a switch and a push button for controlling the operations of the drive motor and other drive members, and an electric circuit board which interconnects the operating and drive members through corresponding electric control circuits. Various switches of the operating members are assembled on a unitary structure to provide an operating unit assembly. When mounted in the housing, the switches of the operating unit are exposed to the outside through the wall of the housing, so that the cameraman can operate them with more fingers of the hand which is put on the lens grip.
The lens grip housing of this sort has a grip portion which is so shaped as to fit in the palm of the cameraman's gripping hand which is put on a predetermined position on the lens grip. In this connection, when a cameraman holds a lens grip of a video camera which is supported on the shoulder, the cameraman usually inclines the gripping hand slightly in the forward direction or toward the subject rather than keeping the hand at right angles with the axis of the camera, because this is easier for him or for her to hold the lens grip and to manipulate the operating means on the grip. Therefore, it is the general practice to form the lens grip housing in a shape which fits a hand in a forwardly inclined state.
Nevertheless, the optimum angle of inclination of the grip portion varies from one cameraman to another and also varies to some extent depending upon the personal traits of the individual cameraman. In addition, the optimum grip angle varies depending upon the direction of the subject. Namely, the optimum grip angle for a camera lens which is pointed at an elevated subject differs from the optimum grip angle for a camera lens which is pointed at a lowly located subject. Therefore, it has been known in the art to provide a lens grip which permits adjustments of the grip angle as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application 63-106276.
In this known lens grip, the housing is divided into two parts, i.e., a base member to be fixed on a lens assembly and a cover member to be adjustably joined with the base member. The above-mentioned driving components are mounted on the fixed member, while the operating unit assembly and electric circuit board are mounted on the cover member. The cover member is rotatably coupled with the fixed base member through a rotational shaft which is provided on a proximal end portion of the cover member, namely, in an upper corner portion of its proximal end on the side of the camera body. The angular position of the cover member is varied by turning the same relative to the base member about the rotational shaft. The lens grip housing is provided with a lock pin in order to fix the cover member in an adjusted angular position on the base member. After a grip angle adjustment in released state, the cover member is fixed and connected to the base member by the lock pin.
The above-described prior art lens grip, which employs a lock pin to hold together the base and cover members in coupled state, has a drawback in that the rotational shaft and locking pin are subjected to unduly great loads through the cover member which is gripped by the cameraman, and thus suffer from deformations and damage in many cases. Besides, since the center of rotation is located in a corner portion of the cover member, the diagonally opposite corner portion of the cover member is largely deviated from a normal position on the base member as the cover member is turned about the rotational shaft, giving a considerably degraded look to the grip by disturbing its profile. At the same time, the center position of the cover member is shifted upward or downward by an angular adjustment, making it difficult for the cameraman to hold the grip in a stable state or causing considerable fatigue to the cameraman in lengthy video-shooting.